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More thoughts on Karma

Lead Based·3/6/2016, 6:13:43 PM·6 votes·634 views

I've seen a few posts talking about how Karma could incorporate more karmic(?) elements into her kit. Personally I only know the "new" Karma and I love the champ to bits but I agree that her kit is somewhat theme-less. The whole thing works decently and all the spells complement one another, but beyond the idea that she is chasing people down to deliver negative karma to evildoers its pretty bland. Anyway one idea I had that could maybe make her more interestingly karmic is if her when her shield absorbs dmg or if she heals herself that heal or absorbed dmg could maybe charge her AAs or Q, and her live passive could be moved to her ult with this being her new passive.

On a side note I was wondering if anybody else thinks Riot should take her into more of a martial-arts battle mage direction, as opposed to another clean ethereal Sona/Janna/Nami like character (or at least get rid of the heels, they make zero sense).

5 Comments

SilverSquid3/6/2016, 8:45:39 PM4 votes

To quote Meddler on this: "... a rework which, overall, hasn't been particularly successful. It was done at a time when we didn't have a dedicated team for rewoks and frankly it shows in her kit. Revised Karma's a more functional, healthy champion, but also in many ways a pretty bland one, with a lot of tools on her kit that feel too familiar, even if there's some interesting nuance to their use. I wouldn't say she was weak, I'd certainly agree she wasn't sufficiently satisfying or distinct though."

Karma is a failure due to a lack of resources. She was made very well in terms of gameplay, but her thematics and distinctiveness were forgotten. And for some reasons, her unique gameplay elements were butchered in 5.10 to buff her.... which goes against everything Riot usually preaches.

For once I agree with Hiemal, that just... anything would be appreciated, no matter if they go the short-ranged martial arts way, try combining old and new Karma, give new Karma a double charge passive, make her a short ranged supportive tank mage, a damage manipulation support.... just anything!

As long as Riot seems unwilling to change something about her, or uninspired, I will keep highlighting Karma's problems and propose things that can be done with her kit. I am currently working on a rework to her passive, giving her a secondary resource, instead of the fancy CDR version, that just seems like a boring extension of her ultimate.

Vanjie3/6/2016, 7:45:45 PM2 votes

I think anything at this point is better than nothing. The rework they gave her is honestly just bits and pieces from items and existing champion abilities. Players loved her shield bomb but they removed it because of her passive. Her old passive helped her a lot and was maybe too strong, but they replaced it with something that is . . . . . well doesn't help her early, mid, or late game. After level six and full cooldown reduction, the passive is not that useful. Her entire kit, story, and theme is bland and it seems like she is an after though to Riot. I know players have tried to get Riot to rework her . . . give them ideas . . . and they just ignore it.

IxtaliKing3/7/2016, 6:01:04 AM1 votes

Karma feels as if she's meant to be a battle mage, especially she had the damage on her RE. I like the idea of making her more martial arts like, I hope when they finally get around to finishing her update/rework they give her more tai-chi style animations for her skills. Since Riot have put her in a class with Ori and Morg, I hope whatever they do with makes her more offensive and relevant as a mage. I know some people like niche stuff like tank Karma, but riot need to focus on what she's intended to do first and foremost.

Evenstar3/7/2016, 8:18:20 AM1 votes

I'm surprised to see people think of her as a martial artist... Actually, now that we're on something less concrete like her kit, it's a good time to talk about her personality because her personality is the central point of her kit, lore and her VO. I think clean and ethereal should still be a part of Karma's design as it was a part of her even in her old design, she was just presented in a different ethereally manner compared to Janna/Sona/Nami. While Janna had an air of elegance, Sona went with class and Nami with regal. Karma went with grace, which is closely tied to elegance, but still different in the manner that elegance involves a certain act of class, while grace is more depicted casually. I described Karma as graceful because she associated herself with commoners.

She never was martial artist to begin with, she had a pair of steel fans imbued with her own power. I wouldn't call that martial arts, I'd think she just learn to fight with fans but her main source of combat still comes from her resilience and will, which manifested in to her power.